Population health and value-based care models are similar in that they both strive to create individualized care that results in better health outcomes.
As more organizations strive to implement value-based care, it’s clear that population health also plays a role in this healthcare delivery model. Providers need to understand larger populations as well as individual patients in order to create value and deliver effective care.
Now that providers are assuming more risk, assessing and acting on the data created by a population health strategy is even more important if they are to effectively manage that risk.
What is population health?
Population health refers to the strategy of managing a segment or population of patients using data and informed analysis. Through this data, providers are able to identify patterns and address care needs at scale.
So, how are value-based care and population health linked? And why are their effects on one another important?
The link between population health and value-based care
The data generated from looking at populations as a whole (as opposed to an individual, patient-by-patient basis) can be used to achieve a number of goals of the value-based care model:
● Improve patient experience
● Improve patient outcomes
● Deliver effective care
● Lower costs
Providers with the appropriate technology solutions can collect, analyze, and then act on comprehensive patient data.
For instance, primary care providers can target patient segments for engagement to encourage proactive behavior. This in turn has the potential to reduce disease and illness as well as promote recovery and overall patient wellness. When this approach is taken in aggregate, the overall population health improves.
When providers can address problems in real time using this data, they can affect better outcomes and lower costs, both for patients individually and in the population at large.
Not to mention, there is beneficial cost-effectiveness that these techniques offer for payers and providers as well:
● Illness is managed before it reaches acute stages
● Administrative costs are reduced
● Economies of scale are enabled
Using data to identify at-risk patients enables preventive care, which lowers risk as well as cost. Delivering ambulatory care early prevents the need to deliver acute (and more expensive) care later.
Better data creates more timely care, which generates a positive feedback loop.
Additionally, providers are able to identify and better understand segments of the patient population, thereby reaching them more effectively in terms of patient engagement. This, in turn, enables a proactive approach on the part of the patient and their self-care.
It is in this manner that population health management creates a responsive dynamic that is adaptive to the needs of the population it serves. Further, the constant iteration and improvement permitted by population health data can secure a better ROI for providers and payers.
Meeting demand for value-based care
Health Care Advantage promotes the advancement of value-based care and improved population health by helping patients, providers, and brokers to connect with each other.
By bridging the gap between these groups, we enable value-based care to be brought to new groups of patients who are seeking these health care delivery models, and indeed stand to benefit from them. This process is also bolstered by the growth in Medicare, which also ties payments to value.
We are proud to be able to leverage our technology to enable the relationships that make managing population health with value-based care a reality. If you are ready to join us with a state-of-the-art platform that enables patients to find value-based care providers, reach out to a member of our team. It’s simple to join and the benefits are immense.
Contact us to learn more.
